First of all, I thought I had already been to the launch party. Wrong. I thought I had driven the thing. Wrong. I learned today this was a pre-announcement-pre-party, and the cars I had seen were “production prototypes.” I see. Then, this splendiferous event with a rock band, canapés and apple juice must surely be the launch festa, I thought. (The dear reader knows by now that the average Toyota launch event in Japan entails a card table, two speakers, PowerPoint and a bottle of water.) Wrong again. It’s kind of a pre-announcement. The car itself will come in — we’ll talk about that when we talk timing.

However, I was told that today, that now we have real specs and prices, and the cars (which looked deceptively like the production prototypes) are the ones that will be sold. In Japan. As for America –– we’ll get to that. Here are the vital stats of the hachi-roku JDM spec:

And to answer a burning and often asked question: Yes, a tape deck, even a CD radio with USB are available. As options.

Now, the prices. Prices range from 1,990,000 yen for the RC version to 3,050,000 yen for the “the works” GT Limited version. The RC version is a barest minimum stripped spec, meant for environmentally responsible racing: This way, you don’t have to toss stuff you don’t need on the track. But don`t fall in love with the specs unless you are in Japan.

“The U.S. model will be a Scion,” hachi-roku Chief Engineer Tetsuya Tada tells me later in a tete-a-tete. “Scion’s concept is one trim level. That should be comparable to our GT trim.”

In Japan, the GT trim costs 2,790,000 yen for the stick shift, and 2,870,000 yen for the automatic. That would be a whopping $36,677 if converted by Google. For the stick.

Toyota spokesfolk and later Tada warned repeatedly against coquettish currency conversions, as they made the rounds on fan sites. The Japanese prices includes taxes, and in any case, prices in other countries will be what the market requires, not what Google says. The U.S. price remains a secret. I would guess it’s below $30K, but no way is it below $20K. And no, no stripper version stateside. You heard the man.

One’s a (presumably) stiff coupe with a 4 tire trunk. The other a convertible noodle with the trunk space of a motorcycle. I do like the Miata, btw; heck I owned one once; but for most people, it is quite a lot more “hard core” than the seemingly perfectly easy to live with as a daily driver 86.

Cooper S vs 86 is a closer comparo. Or perhaps Civc Si, although I think those selling the coupe version of that one will very much feel the arrival of the 86, and not in a positive way.

If it’s more than about $24k, I don’t see it selling well. The sweet spot should be around $22,500. What am I basing that on? Well, as stated above by another brilliant chap, car guys shop used against new. A used Vette, 350z, Mustang GT, Miata and so on will be too competitive for the little Toyota.

Other entry level cars with 200hp like the Civic Si and GTI fall at about 22k as well.

Yup the base model with no options has to be under $25K. Honestly I would like to see the “G” version sold here. I don’t need a stripped race car but I don’t need much extra crap either. Being a 2 door, 4-seat motorcycle would be fine with me.

I just hope whatever version they sell, don’t have some sort of “automatic climate control” that makes it cumbersome to quickly grab a largeish knob or so to direct hot air to the windshield should one need it. Thermostat controlled heating is convenient in a house (although I’ve never really suffered when I’ve stayed where the only heat source available was a wood stove), but in a car, it’s just pointless compexification.